# Things that come in sets of seven **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 18, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028 "2003-08-18T19:53:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/41 "2003-08-19T20:02:48Z")
Of course, the array named Gilligan will always be screwed up. Just make sure that the nicest and prettiest one is MaryAnn. (Ginger was a slut. ~grin~) Thanks for coming back and letting us know your thoughts. I implemented a new naming convention for our servers: the Presidents, in order. Eliminated all the bickering about naming of new servers, and people seem to like referring to the hardware as “people”. I think you’ve made a good decision. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/42 "2003-08-19T21:47:08Z")
Weren’t there seven Foys? I can’t believe I beat **Eve** to a vaudeville reference… IIRC the hydra originally had seven heads. And of course, seven ways to get to first base in baseball. ---
**Author:** ![criminalcatalog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@criminalcatalog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/criminalcatalog)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/43 "2003-08-19T22:05:32Z")
There’s actually only **six** simple machines, not seven. Seven…seven things… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Damn I’m good. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/44 "2003-08-19T22:17:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Otto \* > Weren’t there seven Foys? I can’t believe I beat **Eve** to a vaudeville reference… [Apparently there were.](http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/Product.asp?ean=90096098432&itm=3&brg=y) > [@](#): > > IIRC the hydra originally had seven heads. But unless you know what their names were the OP’s going to have to call his arrays “hydra’s head one”, “hydra’s head two”, etc. > [@](#): > > And of course, seven ways to get to first base in baseball. Long file names? ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/45 "2003-08-19T23:17:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Algernon \* > **Seven Ages of Man** (per Shakespeare) infant, school boy, lover, soldier, justice, sixth age, last stage \*\* The last one is second childhood (and oblivion, sans eyes, sans teeth, sans taste, sans everything). I think – as happens so often in Shakespeare – the concept was fairly commonplace in the Renaissance, but Shakespeare said it most memorably. While we’re collecting sevens, a rather geeky one! Edward III of England had seven sons: Edward the Black Prince, William of Hatfield, Lionel of Clarence, John of Gaunt, Edmund Langley, Thomas of Woodstock, and William of Windsor…yes, I do read too much Shakespeare and English history… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HeartOfGold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ab992/32.png) [@HeartOfGold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeartOfGold)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/46 "2003-08-19T23:56:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Man With Two Brains \* > \*\*Seven simple machines (Lever, Inclined Plane, Wheel and Axle, Screw, Wedge, Pulley, and one I forget) > > \*\* Fairly certain there are six simple machines: wedge, screw, pulley, wheel and axle, lever, and inclined plane ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/47 "2003-08-20T00:23:17Z")
William Hartnell Patrick Troughton Jon Pertwee Tom Baker Peter Davison Colin Baker Sylvester McCoy ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/48 "2003-08-20T04:01:35Z")
Greg, Peter, Bobby, Marcia, Jan, Cindy, and… Alice? Tiger? Oliver? Choices, you’ve got choices… ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/49 "2003-08-20T18:56:55Z")
The Castaways have provided a nicely geeky tie-in. I have four SCSI busses to scatter these arrays over. The natural arrangement is two per bus on three busses and one array on the fourth. The busses are to be arranged by sleeping huts. Skipper & Gilligan shared a hut, they’re on bus 1. Ginger & MaryAnn on a bus, the Howells together, and the Professor gets a bus to himself. Sufficiently geeky to appeal, a good enough mnemonic to keep straight without a diagram. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/50 "2003-08-20T19:10:12Z")
The Castaways have provided a nicely geeky tie-in. I have four SCSI busses to scatter these arrays over. The natural arrangement is two per bus on three busses and one array on the fourth. The busses are to be arranged by sleeping huts. Skipper & Gilligan shared a hut, they’re on bus 1. Ginger & MaryAnn on a bus, the Howells together, and the Professor gets a bus to himself. Sufficiently geeky to appeal, a good enough mnemonic to keep straight without a diagram. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/51 "2003-08-20T19:15:20Z")
Felt so good I had to do it twice… ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/52 "2003-08-20T19:25:23Z")
“There were **Seven Spanish Angels** at the alter of the sun; They were playing for the lovers in the valley of the gun” ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/53 "2003-08-20T19:28:30Z")
Check that. They were **praying** for the lovers, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/54 "2003-08-21T06:09:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > \*\*Challenger and Columbia astronauts. ☹ \*\* Also the seven men selected for [Project Mercury](http://www.imahero.com/photos/mercuryseven.html) flights. [Seven Sisters](http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20020108.html), a grouping of colleges considered the “women’s Ivy League” before such universities as Yale and Princeton went co-ed ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/55 "2003-08-21T12:38:20Z")
What about “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028/56 "2003-08-22T05:04:10Z")
Link to the GQ threa on this very issue. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204834&highlight=sins](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204834&highlight=sins) Also… Seven Liberal Arts Seven Classical Orders of Architecture Seven Carndinal Virtues All listed in the link. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-come-in-sets-of-seven/196028.md?page=2)